Beginning in 2016, David Johnston will become co-chair of the Scientific Steering Group (SSC) of the High Impact Weather Project (HIWeather) working alongside Metservice and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO). HiWeather is a ten-year project sponsored by WMO’s World Weather Research Programme (WWRP) and aims to dramatically increase resilience to high impact weather worldwide by improving forecasts and enhancing their communication and utility in social, economic and environmental applications.

David Johnston will be “societal theme leader” in the SSC, which is in line with the agreement between IRDR and WMO/WWRP, where IRDR is expected to provide additional socio-economic and cultural insights into disaster risk reduction issues.